Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2022 to Question 125417 on Prisoners’ Release: Females, if he will publish a proposed timeline for the national expansion of the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) provision.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. We have issued the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) prior information notice which is available via the following link: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000136-2022.
HMPPS defines homelessness, in accordance with the legal definition, as being where the individual does not have any accommodation available and reasonable for them to occupy, including where they may be rough sleeping, squatting or in a night shelter, emergency hostel, or campsite.
Information regarding the number of women leaving prison who make use of housing specialists is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Between July and December 2021, 659 women accessed accommodation support through the Commissioned Rehabilitation Services (CRS), either before or after being released from custody. All offenders who leave prison are provided support through Community Probation Practitioners.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason his Department is advertising for the role of a Victims Commissioner prior to the introduction of the proposed Victims bill to Parliament; and what assessment he has made of the impact of advertising for that role prior to parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recently launched a recruitment process for the Victims’ Commissioner role as the current incumbent, Dame Vera Baird, reaches the end of her appointment on 23 June 2022. This is in line with the standard public appointments process. It comes as the Government delivers landmark reforms for victims, including new legislation to ensure they are better heard, served, and supported across the criminal justice system.
Given the importance of this public appointment, which entails significant responsibility and a wide-ranging portfolio, we believe advertising the role and opening it up to fair and open competition at the earliest opportunity will ensure we have the best possible candidate in post. The competition will run until 4 April, with the successful candidate taking up the role in due course. Dame Vera Baird has been invited to reapply and has been offered a short extension until 31 July, to ensure her continued role in informing the development of the landmark Victims’ Bill ahead of its introduction in Parliament.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of whether the legislation on bereavement compensation in Scotland has resulted in (a) disputes between defendants and bereaved families in claims for compensation, (b) investigations into the proximity of relationships and (b) an effect on the cost of legal claims for bereavement compensation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the law on bereavement compensation for unmarried fathers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which stakeholders his Department has engaged with as part of its review of bereavement damages.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of bereavement damages.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will publish all documents, including copies of emails, letters and minutes of meetings, in respect of its consideration of reform of bereavement damages.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the 322 Community Safety Partnerships in England and Wales (a) access and (b) share Cardiff Model data for preventing serious violence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tackling violent crime is a top priority and this government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.
This is why we have invested £105.5m from 2019-2022 into the development of our Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme, which operates in the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence.
We know that information sharing is key to identifying and supporting young people at risk of violence. VRUs combine the collective expertise of local agency partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. This includes the proactive sharing of data between health and other partners, emulating the Cardiff Model. The Home Office closely monitors VRUs’ progress across key priorities, including effective sharing data sharing between partners. As per the published 2019/20 VRU Evaluation, all 18 areas have made good progress in generating and sharing data across numerous partners to inform their direction of travel.
The 2018 Serious Violence Strategy for England and Wales consolidates the expectation that, in line with the Cardiff Model for violence prevention, Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) work with local hospitals to implement the sharing of appropriate health data to tackle serious violence. Information standard ISB1594, which applies to all Accident and Emergency departments, sets out the details of the minimum dataset to be provided. At this time, data on the percentage of CSPs using this model is not held centrally.
More widely, we are introducing the Serious Violence Duty through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will require authorities to work collaboratively and share data and information to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which of the 43 police forces in England and Wales use the Cardiff Model data to identify and target serious violence hotspots.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tackling violent crime is a top priority and this government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.
This is why we have invested £105.5m from 2019-2022 into the development of our Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme, which operates in the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence.
We know that information sharing is key to identifying and supporting young people at risk of violence. VRUs combine the collective expertise of local agency partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. This includes the proactive sharing of data between health and other partners, emulating the Cardiff Model. The Home Office closely monitors VRUs’ progress across key priorities, including effective sharing data sharing between partners. As per the published 2019/20 VRU Evaluation, all 18 areas have made good progress in generating and sharing data across numerous partners to inform their direction of travel.
The 2018 Serious Violence Strategy for England and Wales consolidates the expectation that, in line with the Cardiff Model for violence prevention, Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) work with local hospitals to implement the sharing of appropriate health data to tackle serious violence. Information standard ISB1594, which applies to all Accident and Emergency departments, sets out the details of the minimum dataset to be provided. At this time, data on the percentage of CSPs using this model is not held centrally.
More widely, we are introducing the Serious Violence Duty through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will require authorities to work collaboratively and share data and information to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims of childhood sexual abuse have (a) been refused compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and (b) had a compensation award reduced as a result of their criminal record.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The statutory Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) requires that awards are withheld where the applicant has an unspent conviction of a specified type, including custodial sentences and community orders. Where the applicant has a different type of unspent conviction, the Scheme requires that any award is withheld or reduced unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so.
In the 3-year period between 12 March 2019 and 11 March 2022:
The above figures relate to finalised claims which were submitted on or after 1 February 2015. The data is not available in connection with claims submitted prior to that date. While the incident happened during childhood, many applications are submitted in adulthood. Applications may have more than one refusal reason.